“North Brabant is a leader in the digital economy. We see tremendous growth in the number of companies operating in this sector,” says Maddy Reijers, digitalization strategist at the Province of North Brabant. “We live in a world where technology is advancing at lightning speed. We have to keep up with that to stay relevant. Our region has all the ingredients – from knowledge to partnerships and companies that want to get started with new technologies – to make that happen.”
The province is firmly committed to AI and digitization. “These technologies are crucial to the economy of today and tomorrow. In terms of labor productivity, the Netherlands lags behind the United States. This is where AI, for example, can play a major role. The developments in artificial intelligence are promising, and its impact will only increase,” explained Erik Lammers, policy co-worker at the Province of North Brabant.
Maddy Reijers
Digitalization strategist
Reijers is educated as a chemical technologist. Thirty years ago, she joined the enforcement department in the province of North Brabant. Since then, her work has moved from the end to the beginning of the policy chain. In her work as a digitalization strategist, the question “Where do we want to go with Brabant?” is central.
Erik Lammers
Senior policy officer
Lammers is the Senior Policy Officer for Valorization and SMEs in North Brabant. Before arriving there, he worked in higher education as a project manager. He comes from an entrepreneurial family and has a fondness for entrepreneurship. At the province, he is concerned with innovation policy, specifically for startups, scale-ups, and innovative SMEs.
‘Startups are indispensable’
Startups play an essential role in adopting AI and other digital-related innovations; startups are indispensable, Lammers said. “They are generally flexible and can implement change faster than existing organizations or established companies. Moreover, they diversify existing offerings. We think it is important for existing companies to embrace these innovations and for startups to meet and learn from each other,” Lammers said.
To boost Brabant ideas, entrepreneurs, and startups in data and AI, the province asked Braventure and Erasmus Enterprise to organize the AI Pitch Competition. On November 7, during the AI Summit Brainport, ten finalists will pitch their ideas to an expert jury. The winner will receive €50,000, and the runners-up will also receive large prizes (€35,000 and €25,000). They can use these prizes to take the next step toward a “market-solution fit. Yet money is not the most important thing.
Brabant: theplace to be for AI startups
The competition is organized to give startups a flying start. Lammers: “The challenge is specifically aimed at existing startups that need help testing their solution, validating their problem definition, or getting their solution’s market fit. Often, technical startups have a Willie Wortel who comes up with the most excellent solutions but needs to think about commercializing their product. We do want them to think about that because it is crucial to the success of the innovation.”
“The AI Pitch Competition is primarily about moving startups forward. That is an important function for us as a province. In addition, as a province, we want to put Brabant on the map as an attractive region for startups and highlight our startup ecosystem,” Reijers adds to her colleague.
Social impact as a key condition
An essential condition is that the participants not only develop a beautiful webshop or innovative payment method but also that their solution contributes to societal challenges. “There may be someone with a brilliant idea to improve search term optimization on e-commerce, but that only has an economic impact. We as a province don’t think that’s appropriate.”
Delft Imaging Systems from Den Bosch thinks Lammers is an excellent example of a company making a significant social impact with their innovation. They developed software to help users detect suspected tuberculosis quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively. Millions of people worldwide have since been screened using this ingenious AI software. The package can significantly speed up triage in health centers and hospitals and support setting up treatment plans.
The paradox of AI startups
Lammers: “Startups with a software proposition often enter the market relatively quickly because they don’t need to build hardware or other technology. But, validation must be done very accurately. It is often difficult to find a problem-solution fit, as we call it. That’s the paradox for AI startup entrepreneurs: they must dare to stick their head above the parapet and provide an “unfair competitive advantage”; otherwise, they are irrelevant. But because developments are so rapid, this is a challenge. With the AI Pitch Competition, we want to force them to think carefully about their product or service.”
When do Lammers and Reijers consider the event successful? Reijers: “We find the number of entries (more than fifty) very encouraging. We aim to inspire and interest people in AI entrepreneurship by putting twelve startups in the spotlight on November 7.”
“And when an entrepreneur can say in five years: I won the AI Pitch Competition, and because of that, I was able to build my company from startup to an SME or scale-up,” Lammers concludes.
Collaboration
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